Ants!

Hi from a newbie!
The subject line says it all really. I have ants in the lounge and kitchen,
coming in from the garden. Fourtunately those rooms have no carpet, but
laminate floors, so they're easy to clean.
My problem is, I have two young inquisitive toddler daughters and also a
cat, so I cannot use chemical ant-killers. Last year I sprinkled salt and
that seemed to work, this year it is not making any difference. Someone
suggested cleaning the affected areas with vinegar, that did the trick for
about a day but now they're back.
So, can anyone suggest a 'natural' remedy to get rid of those annoying,
uninvited ants?
Thanking you muchly,
Victoria (London)

Hi Vicky
Powdered Cloves is a natural ant repellant. Sprinkled behind things
out of toddlers reach, like behind baseboards, behind counters, keeps
most species of ants away.
Boric Acid and Sugar mixtures allow ants to eat and go back to their
nest to share the treat. Kill's m dead! It can be put outside
anywhere you see ant trails. It does dry up in a day and only takes a
couple of drops here and there. Lowe's Hardware sells Terro Ant
Killer at 100% markup for $1.97, at WalMart it's EVERYDAY LOW GREATLY
SLASHED PRICE is $3.98 for the same size bottle, over 300% markup WOW.
TTUL
Gary

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 11:57:58 GMT, "Baroness Benachi"
Er... if it matters, since he said it was marked up 100% at $1.97, then
$3.98 *would* in fact be a 300% markup.
I think his points were that 1) WalMart ain't such a deal, and 2) It's
bunches cheaper to mix it yourself.
Myself, since I (also) have cats, I bought some flea powder that's intended
for use ON the cats. In these far more civilized days of products like
Advantage, I can't imagine why anyone would use flea powder on a cat, but
it works just great to sprinkle at the ant entry points. (Since it's
intended for use ON the cat, presumably if one of the cats manages to track
through it and ingest a little it won't be as bad as other insecticides.
Of course I *don't* buy Hartz brand, since they have such a terrible track
record with their on-pet flea treatments killing the pets rather than the
fleas.)
Haven't noticed any flea powder meant for use ON toddlers yet, though, so I
can't help you there.
-- Michelle
Feeding a Stray? Please Neuter or Spay!

Hi Michelle
Since you brought up Hartz, not knocking them per-se as I buy a lot of
their things. But their quality control on blended formulations
leaves MUCH to be desired.
I have tested a couple of their products and the active ingredient
varied so far from what it was supposed to be (to the lesser side),
where if the directions said to use 1 ounce to get that concentration
in or on the animal, it would take 12 ounces or 3 whole 4 ounce
bottles full to get the required working dosage.
They are normally well UNDER what the bottle specifications say is in
the product! This is WHY it never works for most people.
TTUL
Gary

By the way gang, I wasn't knocking WalMart, my car automatically turns
into WalMart. Every time I try to pass the place, it turns in on it's
own.
The point of my addition about pricing was just to remind folks that
almost all retailers prices are based on what the market will bear.
I made a post several months ago comparing a few stores and WalMart
was consistently higher than local competition on numerous everyday
things.
Most big chains sell only lead items and mark them way down, for
peripheral items you are forced to shop elsewhere.
But what peripheral items the large chains do sell, they are quite
often priced at double the suggested (or common) retail price.
In other words, KNOW YOUR PRICES!
Buy lead items at the chains
Buy peripheral items at and support your local shops.
TTUL
Gary

An OT follow-up, but what the heck :-)
We're also confirmed Walmart shoppers, and I have noticed a few
trends... When something we buy a lot of at Walmart due to a
substantially lower price seems to be a good seller for Walmart, they
raise the price.
We've noticed this trend with several items, and when the price climbs
we stop buying the items. Eventually the price will lower again, but
will be higher than it originally had been.
I also have noted that prices vary between Walmart stores.
Our SuperCenter has higher prices on the everyday household items I
purchase than the regular Walmart across town. Last time I'd looked,
my Downy fabric softener was $2.12 higher at the Supercenter.
Nan

Hi Nan
I have found that too!
And also, Sam's Club, which is a membership store, is often priced a
lot higher than WalMart.
What irks me the most about WalMart (and I do realize all stores have
sales and come-on items). But when they put up the sign that reads
"Everyday Low Price" the price should not jump the next day to 50%
more than the preceeding day. It's NOT their "Everyday" price if it
bounces up and down like that!
My late wife was so price savvy and we had an exact inventory of items
we purchased that she kept as a permanent item on her checklist and
would take the list with her to the stores and keep it updated.
I used to complain a little about her hitting 5 or 6 different stores
and burning up 5 bucks of gas to save a penny, but she really wasn't
that bad, it just seemed that way. She had different routes for
different items and actually rarely went out of her way.
Just to goad me, she would make a list for me of the prices at the
local store and then show me what she paid for the same items
following her normal route. These savings often amounted to over 50
bucks each shopping trip or around 3 grand a year, not counting the
coupon savings discounts.
But we also lived in an area where within 5 miles any direction, there
were several major shopping areas of like kind stores.
Where I live now, I have yet to find any stores that stock some of the
things I was accustomed to where I used to live.
I asked one of the largest grocers here in town why they don't carry
about 6 things I keep on my look out list. They said they just don't
sell here! So I asked, how would you know, according to your home
office, you have NEVER carried any of them, and no other store in a 50
mile radius does either.
I'm sure I'm not the only person in a town of 1/4 million people that
would like these things stocked by somebody.
Off my soapbox!
TTUL
Gary

Hi Nan
Based on threads after this one,
If my comment was misconstrued or taken as a directive
I APOLOGIZE!
It was not intended that way.
To Me, the phrase "Off My Soapbox" meant that "I" "ME" personally, was
stepping down from my preaching.
It was not intended to mean that anyone else was on 'my' soapbox, nor
that I was telling YOU to get off MY soapbox.
We all have our soapboxes that we get on from time to time!
When I say "Off My Soapbox" it is a self directed instruction to
myself. Meaning, I'm boring people to death, so I'm getting OFF of MY
OWN Soapbox.
Sorry for the misunderstanding!
TTUL
Gary

[...]
Mr. Deutschmann: What makes you think it was *your* soapbox?
Nan: Thank you for emailing me about Mr. Deutchmann's appalling
"netiquette". If AHC were able to pay me as much as other groups, I
could afford to monitor AHC more closely. As it is, I must depend on
readers like you to alert me to problems.

Dear Marcey
I don't know who died and made you GOD, but USENET newsgroups are open
unmoderated forums.
My netiquette is far greater than yours and there is NOTHING appalling
about it!
You jump in here, make a demeaning remark, without an explanation and
claim I am a problem.
I didn't just happen across this newsgroup, I was invited here a
couple of years ago and ironically the Subject at the time was also
about ANTS. (See Oct. 28, 2002 thread).
Your only remarks were back then were also knocking WalMart!
Unlike your chicken self, my e-mail address is REAL, and quite obvious
to anyone to remove the .nospam from the end to contact me.
I would like to repost a couple of questions by FH concerning you from
May 2003:
"are you EVER going to actually post something that has any value
here? what cleaning tips have your contributed?"
Obviously, your presence here is totally worthless!
If any group at all is paying you for anything they must be out of
their minds!
Gary

Without first-class moderation, AHC would not have become the most
respected group on USENET. I'm sure the board will hire a moderator
again as soon as the cash-flow problems are straightened out.

Evidently Nan thought you were a problem when you ordered her off your
soapbox. Here at AHC, we've never read anything quite so rude!

I read the thread but didn't see who invited you. Did they warn you to
read the Charter?

Who but a troll would accuse Marcey of knocking a corporate sponsor?

Wouldn't you love to know Marcey's email address? Is that why you're
trolling her? I think you'd clog her mailbox with so many love letters
from "a secret admirer" that people like Nan with legitimate complaints
couldn't get through to her.

Hi Boob
The term "OK - Off my soapbox"
Simply means I ranted long enough and time to step down from
preaching!
It IS NOT directed at someone else or accusing someone else of
something!
I guess it depends in which part of the country you live in what
things mean.
My wife who is from the south, brought many midwesterners who thought
they were her friends to tears because of a common phrase used in the
south that has just the opposite meaning in real English.
Where I'm from, if someone says 'they don't care to' it means what it
says, they DON'T want to do it. But apparently down south, it means
just the opposite and they would be GLAD to do it.
"OK - OFF MY SOAPBOX" is NOT a direction or comment to someone else!
It is a comment to ones own self, alerting others that they are
TURNING OFF their preaching mode.
TTUL
Gary

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